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The first two to get together were Deku and Ochako.
The two of them had always been a bit of a “will-they-won’t-they” situation, where everyone knew they liked each other but Deku, for some reason, didn’t realize his feelings until she asked him out halfway through their second year.
(Yeah. Ochako asked Deku out--how manly!)
After that, a whole bunch of couples fell into place; Jirou and Kaminari, Tokoyami and Shouji, Todoroki and Sero, just to name a few—they all got together before the year ended. Sure, there were some breakups, but if a relationship ended, it ended amicably because there’s no room for hurt feelings when you’re a hero in training.
There’s only two--three, if you count Mineta, but nobody does--people that haven’t dated anyone yet.
Eijjrou and Bakugou.
And, well, Eijirou knows why he’s not dating anyone. It has everything to do with the way his heart skips a beat when Bakugou turns in his direction and how he perks up as soon as he hears the telltale pop-pop-bang that follows Bakugou. It’s just, he has no clue why Bakugou hasn’t dated anyone.
There are bets and rumors, but Eijirou’s not necessarily the type to bet on his bro’s well-being. And, really, you should hear the crazy things Mina and Kaminari tell him--stuff like “He’s waiting for you to ask him out, Kiri,” and “He’s too in love with you to date anyone else.”
But that’s neither here nor there. The main point is, Eijirou hasn’t dated anyone because he’s in too deep with Bakugou. And he thought he was pretty good at keeping his secret. But then Mina found out--because of course she did--and she ended up telling the entire class.
(Okay, so maybe he wasn’t that good at hiding his crush. And maybe when Mina asked him straight up if he liked Bakugou he said yes. And maybe Mina then shouted, a little too loudly, that she knew it from the very beginning. And when Kaminari asked, Mina maybe told him and Sero and Jirou and Shinsou. And when they looked at Eijirou for confirmation, he maybe told them the truth. And then word spread around the class, but Eijirou really didn’t care too much because he knew he could trust everyone.)
It kind of becomes a running joke, to be honest. Like, they’ll all be hanging out, watching a movie, and Eijirou will off-handedly mention that the lead actor or actress is attractive, and someone will say, “Ha! I thought you only liked Bakugou!”
Or, when Eijirou mentions that he studies with Bakugou, Sero’s eyebrows will shoot up and he’ll make a crude joke about them not actually studying.
It’s been going on for long enough that Eijirou’s pretty much used to it. He doesn’t bother telling them off, because complaining about it just makes it ten times worse. So he’ll sit and take the ribbing--water off a duck’s back and all that.
Except, they start to get kinda bold. They’ll joke about it when their teachers are around, which means Eijirou has to awkwardly stare at Aizawa as Kaminari mumbles something that Eijirou really doesn’t want to repeat.
Eijirou falls into a pattern where he doesn’t necessarily mind the fact that his friends are making jokes at his expense because he knows that they’re not making fun of the fact that Eijirou’s got a crush, they’re making fun of the fact that Eijirou’s not doing anything about said crush. So he takes the teasing.
He feels a little uneasy about them joking around in front of Bakugou, though. It’s significantly harder to hide his ginormous crush on Bakugou when his friends are talking about it practically 24/7.
Plus, even though Bakugou hasn’t brought anything up with Eijirou, Eijirou really doesn’t know how he feels about it. For all he knows, Bakugou could secretly feel really uncomfortable and he just doesn’t know how to bring it up with the rest of them. (Yeah, Bakugou’s gotten better at dealing with his feelings, but it’s not like he’s suddenly connected with his seventh chakra and knows how to communicate.)
So when the time for hero work studies comes around, Eijirou’s excited for a break from the nonstop teasing he’s been victim to.
Of course, it doesn’t work out like that.
::
Now that they’re third years, they’re officially on every agency’s radar. It’s no surprise that, after everything they’ve gone through in these past three years, they’ve got their pick of agencies to intern with.
Eijirou’s interned with Fat Gum every year, and he’s not about to break his pattern. Mina decides to follow him--she claims it’s not because this second year she’s got her eyes on is interning there, too, but Eijirou knows better.
Kaminari and Sero end up at Best Jeanist’s agency. Bakugou cackles for seven minutes straight when they return home in the tightest skinny jeans known to man. Eijirou tries to perk them up, telling them that it’s a good look, but he thinks he isn’t very successful since he’s holding back a giggle.
Surprisingly, Bakugou doesn’t intern with anyone. He’s already Miruko’s sidekick--as much as he hates the word, that is the official term--and he says that if he’s busy interning at some extra’s agency, he won’t have time to be wherever she needs him to be.
And it just so happens that where she needs him to be is at Fat Gum’s agency.
(Apparently, Fat Gum and Miruko are getting ready to go on a raid sometime soon. They’ve been planning behind closed doors for who knows how long, but it’s all very top-secret information that Eijirou really doesn’t want to know.)
So in late September, Eijirou, Mina, and Bakugou set out together for Fat Gum’s agency.
Fat Gum had said he needed him for about three months. He’d offered to book them hotel rooms for the three months they’re gonna be in town, but Principal Nezu had put his foot down about them missing that much school.
Eijirou works out a deal with their teachers where they leave for Esuha City during lunch and promise to get good grades. This is a good plan for Bakugou, but not so much for Mina and Eijirou. But if they want to work at Fat Gum’s, they’ll just have to deal.
The whole thing works out pretty well. There are some days where Eijirou is so tired he can barely even get out of bed, but he just reminds himself that it’s good practice for when he’s a pro hero and has his own agency with Bakugou.
(Sometime last year, the class got around to talking about what they were going to do after they graduate. Eijirou had shrugged and said he’d probably stay at Fat Gum’s, like Tamaki. Bakugou said he’d sidekick with Miruko until he had enough money to boost his and Eijirou’s agency. Before that conversation, they never said anything about becoming hero partners, much less opening up a hero office, but Eijirou’s learning to roll with the punches.)
When he wakes up, he knows it’s gonna be just like those days that he has to think of the future to get some sort of motivation. Last night had been...rough, to say the least. There were multiple reports of robberies all over the city--some dumbass with a teleportation quirk was having a field day, according to Bakugou.
His legs are sore from running all over the place and his right shoulder throbs something nasty. The robber had stabbed Eijirou before he could harden all the way, and a piece of his skin had chipped off.
But he tries to push his injuries out of his head and instead focus on the day.
It’s a Sunday, thank the gods, but he doesn’t have time to rest. Fat Gum wants them in the office by noon, and a look at his alarm clock tells him he should get up by 8:30 if he doesn’t want to be in a rush.
He takes his time getting ready; every time he moves a little too fast, his shoulder sends pain shooting down his spine. Eijirou makes a mental note to text Tamaki about it on the train ride there.
Eijirou showers and gets dressed in casual clothes, then packs his hero costume into a duffel along with some homework he’s hoping to get done when he has free time. When he goes downstairs, the common room is empty, but he can smell burnt toast wafting over from the kitchen.
Jirou and Mina are all standing around, making their own breakfasts. Kaminari is slumped at the breakfast bar, head down and dozing off. Jirou must’ve forced him to wake up early.
“Hey guys!” He chirps and laughs at the way Kaminari jumps. “Early morning?”
“You could say that,” Kaminari grumbles.
Jirou snorts and says, “You’re the one who wanted french toast.”
“Breakfast in bed is a thing that exists, you know.”
“Sorry, I can’t hear you.”
Eijirou makes to pull out the skillet, but Mina stops him with a hand on his wrist. “I think Bakugou was planning on making you guys lunch, Kiri.”
“Oh, man, he’s such a simp,” Kaminari groans. “I love you, Kyo, but I don’t think I could ever make you lunch.”
“I don’t want you to make me lunch, Denks,” Jirou deadpans.
“Ouch. Still. Fact still remains that Bakugou’s whipped.”
Mina giggles. “Tell that to Kiri.”
“I have tried ! Believe me! He doesn’t trust me when I say that they could be making out all day if he just confessed.”
Eijirou sighs. This is a conversation he’s heard one too many times.
“Listen,” he starts. “I know you’re convinced he likes me back, but I promise you he doesn’t. And can you maybe hold off on jokes when he’s around? They probably make him super comfortable.”
“I wouldn’t rush to conclusions, Kiri,” Jirou interrupts.
“Yeah! I swear, I saw him hiding a laugh once! He tried to pretend it was a cough, but I totally saw it,” Kaminari cries.
“Still! I’m fine with you messing around with me, but it’s a different story when it comes to him. You know that as well as I do.”
Silence answers him, and Eijirou suddenly realizes that there’s one more person in the room than there used to be.
“Hey, Bakugou,” he says.
“What’s up, Shitty Hair.”
Eijirou curses under his breath.
Bakugou moves to sit next to Kaminari at the breakfast bar. He nods a hello to Jirou and Mina and flicks Kaminari’s ear in greeting. “What are we talking about?”
Kaminari hisses and rubs his ear. “Just how much you love Kiri,” he says spitefully.
Eijirou immediately tenses. Oh, god, this is it, he thinks. This is where I get rejected in front of my friends.
Instead of rearing back and spitting that he’d never like Eijirou, Bakugou just grins viciously and says, “Hah? You jealous or somethin’?”
Eijirou sputters and turns around to make himself a protein shake. He’s determined to hide the splotchy blush that’s spreading from his face to his neck, but based on the way Mina giggles, he doesn’t think he’s very successful.
::
Life goes on like that, for a while. Eijirou spends his time either at school or running around Esuha City. It gets so repetitive that he starts to lose track of the days. That’s why when he wakes up to a bunch of messages, he sorta freaks.
It isn’t until he checks the date that he finally understands.
It’s October 16th--his birthday. Grinning, he shoots a quick text to Tetsutetsu and calls his moms. They cry at him through the phone and tell him to come back home on Sunday so they can celebrate their baby boy.
After some (read: a lot) tears, he walks to class with Bakugou, who mutters a “Happy birthday, or whatever,” and shoves him away before he can respond. Honestly, he’s just happy Bakugou remembered. When he enters class, everyone sings happy birthday, but other than that, class passes by as usual.
Mina gives him his present on the train ride to the Fat Gum agency: a pair of bright red gauges that, she tells him, a support student specially made so they won’t break when he hardens. Eijirou thanks her with a hug and promises to get something just as amazing for her birthday.
Fat Gum tells him he can take it easy today since it’s his birthday. But the phrase “take it easy” isn’t necessarily in his vocabulary, so of course Eijirou and Bakugou go to the crime district and stop some petty thefts.
(Bakugou had met up with him outside of the agency, saying with a blush that Miruko told him he could do whatever he wanted today, but not because it was Eijirou’s birthday or anything. Eijirou doesn’t really believe him, for some reason.)
The three of them get home around ten o’clock, and Bakugou immediately goes to take a shower and fall asleep. Eijirou wants to do the same, but before he can follow him to the elevator, he gets bombarded by the rest of class.
He doesn’t go up to his room until well past 11 p.m. Bakugou’s probably asleep by now, so he tries to be quiet as he walks in the hallway. He obviously wasn’t doing a good enough job, though, because as soon as he gets to his room the door next to his creaks open.
“Kirishima?” Bakugou croaks.
Eijirou curses. “Just go back to sleep, Bakugou. It’s past your bedtime.”
It might be dark as all hell in the hallway, but Eijirou swears he can see Bakugou’s pout. He turns around and heads into his room.
Well then. Bakugou’s never listened to Eijirou so fast. Maybe being half-asleep makes him more complainant?
Eijirou sighs and unlocks his door. He puts down all of his presents and starts to dress for bed when hell on earth is unleashed on his poor door.
“Open the fuck up, Shitty Hair,” Bakugou growls.
“Bakugou, I already told you--” he starts, opening the door. He’s interrupted by a box covered in shark wrapping paper being shoved into his face. “What’s this?”
Bakugou growls again. “Just take it.”
Eijirou steps backwards and Bakugou follows him until they’re sitting on his bed. He looks nervous, glancing around his room like he’s keeping track of all of his exits.
“I like the wrapping paper, bro. It looks just like me!” he says with a smile. Bakugou blushes.
“Open it up already.”
Eijirou sticks his tongue out at Bakugou but does as told. He tries to not tear the wrapping paper--it’s too precious to rip. Underneath the gift wrap is a plain white box, which he opens up immediately. Covered by red tissue paper is--
“No fucking way.”
It’s a pair of earbuds--except, Eijirou knows this brand. They’re crazy expensive and he’s been saving up money to buy them for who knows how long. Apparently, they’re top of the line, especially for working out, but that’s not the reason why he wanted them so badly.
“You got me the limited edition Crimson Riot earbuds?!? ” He cries, closing the box as fast as he opens it. “No, no way.”
Bakugou chuckles. “Look!”
Eijirou sighs and takes another peak at the earbuds. Sure enough, the earbuds are dark red with a “CR” printed boldly on the side. “Dude! These are, like, 75,000 yen!”
Bakugou huffs. “And?”
“You’ve got to return these. It’s too expensive. Why would you spend that much money on me?”
“Do you…” Bakugou’s eyebrows furrow. “Do you not like them?”
Oh.
Hear that? That’s the sound of Eijirou’s heart breaking into a million pieces.
Eijirou yelps and carefully places the earbuds down on his bedside table. Then, he tackles Bakugou with a hug. “I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! THEY’RE THE GREATEST PRESENT I’VE EVER GOTTEN!” Bakugou groans, thumping Eijirou’s back, but he’s not done yet. “THANK YOU SO MUCH!”
“Yeah, well, happy birthday, Kirishima.”
::
One day, on the train ride to Esuha City, their train stops abruptly.
Eijirou and Bakugou share a look. Mina taps the shoulder of someone nearby and asks what’s going on.
“Didn’t you hear? Apparently, there’s villains attacking Nagoya!”
They’re out of the train before the stranger can finish their sentence.
By the time they get to the scene, everything’s a mess.
Citizens are running in every which way because the villains are following them--chasing them down. There are multiple pro heroes collapsed on the road, and Eijirou doesn’t know if they’re passed out or dead, but he shakes the thought out of his head.
The four of them set out on separate paths: Bakugou goes to join the fight, Eijirou runs to the nearest collapsed building where he can hear civilians shouting for help, and Mina sprints to where a fire’s broken out.
Eijirou tries not to think about anything other than helping the people stuck under the rubble. He can vaguely hear loud explosions and the sound of shouts, but he decides that’s not really high on his list of priorities right now.
Finally, he does one last survey of the building--it doesn’t look like anyone’s left, and the majority of the building is rubble on the ground, thanks to his quirk, so he’s pretty sure that he got everyone out. He’s about to move on to the next building, but then--
The loudest explosion he’s heard yet sounds and Eijirou blinks against the bright light coming from the middle of the road. When it quiets, Bakugou stands with a ring of villains around him. They all look knocked out and Eijirou’s chest swells with pride at how powerful Bakugou’s gotten.
But before Eijirou can get back to work, one of the villains--one with a quirk that turns his hands into huge animal-like claws--scrambles up and makes for Bakugou, who is conveniently facing away.
“Bakugou!” Eijirou cries, but Bakugou doesn’t turn around. He shouts again, but Bakugou just breathes heavily, unaware of the villain who’s getting a lot closer.
Why is he not turning around?!?
And, you see, when his friends are in trouble, Eijirou’s body does stupid shit before his mind can catch up. Like, he’ll take stupid hits that he knows his friends can handle just because he can’t bear seeing them hurt.
Well.
One second he’s watching in horror as Bakugou slowly turns around, eyes wide in shock as he comes face to face with a villain out for blood, and the next, he’s staring up at the sky and Bakugou’s sending the fucker flying with an AP Shot.
He sort of remembers hearing a wet shlick noise sometime in between, but for the most part, he has no idea how he ended up on his back.
Mina screams out, this terrified noise that makes the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight. Eijirou tries to sit up so he can see what she’s so freaked out about, but Bakugou pushes him back down.
“Ei! Fucking stop moving!” Bakugou cries. Eijirou’s never heard his voice this cracked--whatever happened must have been really bad. He says something to Mina, but Eijirou’s too focused on getting up without alerting Bakugou. But then he shouts, “What the fuck are you waiting for?! CALL A FUCKING MEDIC!”
“What? Who’s hurt? Why do we need a medic?” Eijirou asks, batting Bakugou’s hands away from his shoulders.
Bakugou actually stops, blinking at him with incredulous eyes. “You, dumbass!”
“No? I’m not?” Eijirou’s confused now, because he doesn’t think he’s hurt, and when he looks down at his body--
Oh. There’s a claw sticking out of his stomach.
Eijirou’s starting to understand why everyone’s so freaked out.
“Huh. When did that happen?” He asks. “Why can’t I feel it?”
Bakugou’s eyes go wide again, like before the villain attacked. “What?”
“Bakugou, I can’t feel the claw sticking out of my stomach. Why? What’s goi--” Eijirou stops midway through the sentence to cough.
“Where’s that fucking medic,” Bakugou growls.
“Bakugou, I think I’m scared. I don’t know what happened.”
“You-you fucking took a hit for me, like a dumbass,” Bakugou says, but his voice sounds tight. “And now you’re impaled on a claw.”
“Oh. That’s weird. Hey, do you have a sweater? It’s kind of cold out here.”
“No! It’s not!” Bakugou’s running a hand through his hair, unlatching his mask, and this is where Eijirou normally leans into the touch, but he doesn’t really have the energy right now.
“I don’t think I can move my legs,” Eijirou tries to say, but his mouth isn’t really cooperating, so what comes out is “Hrngrgh.”
“What?”
God. This is a mess, isn’t it. Eijirou laughs at the situation, and there’s that squelchy noise again. Guess he jostled his stomach too much.
“Stop moving, Ei! You’re making--” Bakugou looks between his stomach and his face quickly, like he doesn’t know where he should be paying the most attention to. “You’re making things worse, and if you don’t stop moving you could--” Bakugou’s throat clicks and he sniffles.
“Hey, no, I’m not dying,” Eijirou has the mind to say. What comes out of his mouth is “Nrmph.”
He reaches out for Bakugou, hand flopping over uselessly at his side. Bakugou eagerly grabs it, free hand moving up to rest on his cheek.
“Kat’ski,” he mumbles, eyes starting to shut.
“Ei? No, keep your eyes open for me. Please? Ei?”
Eijirou recognizes drops falling on his face, but he doesn’t know what it is since his eyes are closed.
Before he passes out for good, he hears someone whisper, “Please don’t leave me.”
::
When Eijirou comes to, the first thing he thinks is, It smells really good.
The next thing he thinks is It smells like Bakugou.
Then he realizes the reason why it smells like Bakugou is because he’s laying right on top of him.
Smiling, he nuzzles deeper into Bakugoui’s hair and decides he still has time to sleep. It’s not like there’s any pressing matters, or like he has to process exactly what happened the last time he was awake.
Wait, what did happen last time he was awake?
A quick preview of what he last remembers flashes through Eijirou’s head, and he groans in embarrassment and pain; embarrassment because how unmanly is it to need to be rescued on a rescue mission, and pain because now that he remembers his wound, he’s really feeling it.
“Hey, guess who’s awake,” a voice hums.
“Oh! Is it Kiri?” Another voice chirps.
Eijirou peaks one eye open and startles when all he sees is pink. Then the pink focuses and he realizes it’s just Mina.
“Hi there, Sleeping Beauty!” She grins.
“Don’t call me that,” he grunts, and flushes bright red at the state of his voice.
That doesn’t slip her attention, obviously, and she pouts. “Yeah, I know. Your voice is pretty wrecked, but that’s to be expected with the breathing tube and all.”
Breathing tube? When did that happen?
A knock on the door makes Mina look up which means that he’ll have to save his questions for later. While she’s distracted getting up and answering the knock, Eijirou opens both of his eyes and surveys his surroundings.
He’s definitely in a hospital, but it looks like he has his own room. In the corner of the room is a television but it doesn’t look like it’s been on for a while. There’s a window looking out on the city across from his bed, so he can easily tell that he’s still in Musutafu. Sero waves at him from where he’s sitting in a chair beside the window. So that’s who the other voice was.
Mina’s talking to some woman in a lab coat. Whatever she’s saying makes Mina nod thoughtfully and respond in a similarly hushed tone. Eijirou doesn’t really have the energy to eavesdrop right now, so he keeps looking around the room.
He’s got an IV drip in his arm, and there’s all sorts of wires coming from the general direction of his chest. He can’t really see where they’re connected, though, because there’s an arm laying across his body.
Eijirou follows the arm to Bakugou. He’s got his head tucked into Eijirou’s neck, so he can’t see his face, but based on the steady breaths Eijirou can feel against his pulse, it seems like he’s asleep.
Mina says goodbye to whoever the doctor was and hands Sero a slip of paper. His eyebrows shoot up when he reads it, but before he can open his mouth Mina shakes her head. It’s obvious they’re hiding something from him, but Eijirou definitely doesn’t have the patience to hound them.
He just sighs and turns his head into Bakugou’s hair. He really does smell nice; sure, he smells like acidic chemicals and smoke and sweat and someone who hasn’t showered in at least two days, but that mixture smells so Bakugou that he loves it.
“He was here the entire time, you know,” Sero says.
“Huh?” Eijirou looks up at them just in time to see Mina elbowing him in the ribs.
He glares at Mina and then continues, “Yeah. He went in the ambulance with you, and then when you got out of surgery he glued himself to your side. He only just knocked out, like, an hour ago.”
SURGERY?!
Mina can read the shock and confusion on his face. “Yeah, we were supposed to tell you after the meds wore off, but someone decided to run his mouth --anyway, yeah. You had surgery. It was… brutal, apparently. They had to strap you down and give you a quirk suppressant.”
Eijirou...doesn’t know how to respond to that, honestly. He tries to harden his fingertips because it doesn’t require any extra energy (he knows, he can literally do it in his sleep), and sure enough, there’s no pull on his skin.
“What the fuck,” he deadpans. Both Mina and Sero gasp--they’re obviously not used to hearing him cuss. “Why?”
“Why what?” Mina asks, pity clear in her voice.
“Why’d I have surgery? Why’d I have to get a quirk suppressant? Why? ”
She sighs and turns to Sero. Sero nods and says, “There was a freaking claw sticking out of you, dude.” He hesitates, like he doesn’t know if he should say anything, but he continues when Mina nods encouragingly. “And... well, apparently your subconscious doesn’t take too kindly to getting poked with surgical tools, so you broke about fifteen scalpels before some genius decided, ‘Hey, let’s just stop trying to operate on a person who’s rock hard.’”
Well, that’s a lot better than he was expecting. He tells them as much, and they share a guilty look. “That’s… not all,” Mina says. “You also kinda sorta… attackedmultiplenurseswhentheygaveyouanesthesia.”
“Hm? I didn’t quite catch that.”
“You attacked multiple nurses when you were out of it.”
Oh. That makes sense.
“We didn’t want to tell you ‘cause we knew you would hate yourself, but I promise it’s not your fault! They were being really aggressive, like, throwing you around and shit, and according to Bakugou when they raised their voice at him you threw the tank of anesthesia at them.”
“H-how--what--I don’t remember this at all --”
“Yeah, you were pretty out of it. You woke up for about thirty minutes right before your surgery, but you weren’t really talking. You were just kind of grunting and saying things like--”
Sero places a hand over Mina’s mouth. “Things like ‘Stop,’ and ‘Don’t.’”
Eijirou raises an eyebrow. “Why don’t I believe you?” He asks, but they both just shrug at him.
“Anyway, it wasn't your fault, Bakugou’s really proud of you. Before he fell asleep he ripped the head of the hospital a new one.”
That definitely makes him feel a little bit better, but it still doesn’t sit well with him.
It goes quiet after that, and they all just sit around for a good fifteen minutes before Sero looks at the time on his phone and says he has a shift soon, so he really needs to get going. Mina and him leave together, promising to come back as soon as they finish their hero work for the day.
Mina turns on the TV before she leaves and hands him the remote. He flicks through channels before settling on the news.
Apparently, after the explosion Bakugou set off, all of the villains passed out, with the exception of the one that got Eijirou. But Bakugou knocked him out, too, so no one ended up getting away. There were no fatalities, thankfully, although a number of civilians and pro-heroes were injured and are recovering in the same hospital as him.
Shockingly, the media is really focusing on Red Riot. There’s a bar at the bottom of the screen that reads “ GOOD NEWS! RED RIOT RECOVERING AFTER SUCCESSFUL SURGERY. ” Eijirou’s not used to having a full headline dedicated to him, and he has to rub his eyes and pinch himself to make sure he’s not making it up.
“They’re worried about me,” he whispers to himself in disbelief.
“Of course they’re worried about you, idiot.”
Eijirou startles at Bakugou’s voice, but the blonde doesn’t make any move to get up. Instead, he continues, “You saved thirty seven people, including me. Of course people are gonna want you healthy. And you don’t wanna let them down, right? So go back to sleep.”
With that, Bakugou presses his face deeper into the junction where Eijirou’s neck meets his shoulders and tightens his arm around his chest.
Smiling, Eijirou presses a kiss into Bakugou’s forehead and decides another hour or two of sleep wouldn’t hurt anybody.
::
Eijirou thought that he was imagining the weird tension between him and Bakugou, but when Mina pulls him aside to ask what’s going on, he sort of gets that everyone else feels it too.
Bakugou’s been touching him, which is strange, because he doesn’t like touching anyone . And he calls him Ei, now; not Kirishima, not Shitty Hair, not Rocks for Brains--Ei, or Eiji, or, on the rare occasion he’s up after 8:30, Eijirou.
(Eijirou likes ‘Eijirou’ the best, because Bakugou says it super drowsily, rubbing his eyes and yawning, but ‘Eiji’ is a close second.)
In response, Eijirou tries to call him Katsuki, but it feels awkward rolling off of his tongue so he sticks with Bakugou and desperately ignores how Bakugou’s eyebrows furrow every time he calls him by his last name instead of his first.
The whole thing is making the hairs on the back of Eijirou’s neck stand up in anticipation of something , although he’s not exactly quite sure what he’s waiting for. The feeling reminds him of the last time he got shocked by Kaminari mid-laugh. He hates to admit that it’s not really an unpleasant feeling.
The others can tell what’s going on, too. They stop making jokes and instead look at each other with raised eyebrows and wide eyes whenever Bakugou and Eijirou interact.
Eijirou wishes he had an answer for them, but he’s just as in the dark.
It all comes to a head when they’re in the locker room a week or two after he gets discharged from the hospital.
He was in the hospital for three days and at the end of it all, if it wasn’t for the nasty scar, there’s no evidence that he was ever hurt.
(One of the nurses at the hospital has a quirk that is kind of like Recovery Girl’s; the only difference is that instead of drawing on the patient’s energy, the nurse has to be submerged in water. That was an awkward experience, one that Eijirou never wants to go through again.)
Eijirou’s talking to Sato about this bakery he found a couple blocks from U.A. when Kaminari hisses, “Shit, Kirishima!”
Eijirou looks back in confusion. Kaminari’s pointing at him, face slack. Everyone else in the room follows his gaze and their faces fall.
Eijirou’s suddenly self-conscious, wishing he hadn’t taken off his shirt. “What?”
“Your scar , dude!!”
Oh. “Haha, yeah. It left a nasty mark, I know. But I’m all better now!” Eijirou smiles nervously. Kaminari continues to stare in disbelief. Then he looks past Eijirou.
Before Eijirou can turn around to see what he’s looking at, he feels a hand on his lower back. Eijirou peers over his shoulder; Bakugou is frowning at him, his face cloudy. He traces the edges of Eijirou’s scar. The skin is still sensitive and Eijirou can’t stop the shiver that shoots down his spine.
Eijirou turns in Bakugou’s hands. Bakugou glances up at him and as soon as they make eye contact he looks back down.
He places his palm on the scar on Eijirou’s stomach. With a sigh, he mumbles, “You’re never gonna do this again.”
Eijirou’s stomach shakes with laughter. “You know I can’t promise you that, Bakugou,” he says.
“Then lie to me. I-I can’t see you like that ever again.” Bakugou’s voice cracks, but he powers through the sentence. “So tell me you’re never gonna be in danger, ever again.”
Bakugou stares into Eijirou’s eyes, looking for something; whatever he sees must settle his emotions because he drops his hand and grins.
Eijirou grins back, but his smile is shaky.
They meet up with the rest of the class outside. Iida lectures them on tardiness and Hagekure giggles when she sees their matching blushes, but Eijirou’s still reeling from whatever just happened to really pay attention.
(It isn’t until much, much later that Eijirou realizes they had that entire conversation in front of all of his friends, and that they left some time during their exchange.
Eijirou has to scream into his pillow in embarrassment for a solid minute.)
::
Eijirou gets back to work as usual.
Sure, every so often, Bakugou will pull him aside with a hand on his wrist and just… look at him. Yeah, Bakugou starts sleeping in Eijirou’s room, in Eijirou’s bed, with his back to Eijirou’s chest, watching Crimson Riot highlights on YouTube until he falls asleep. And sometimes, before he goes out on a patrol with Fat Gum or Mina or Tamaki, Bakugou will send him off with a kiss on the cheek and an order to give everyone hell.
Okay, so the last one is new and Eijirou’s still trying to get used to it. Every time it happens Eijirou can’t help but lean into the kiss and try to steal as much of Bakugou’s body warmth in the split second that they’re connected so it’s not like he’s complaining.
In fact, when Bakugou had grabbed Eijirou’s face and pressed a quick peck to his cheek not even five minutes ago, Eijirou had wrapped his arms around Bakugou’s waist to give him a fast hug. So. He’s really not complaining.
Tamaki glances at him from the side of his eye, and Eijirou knows he’s been caught reminiscing on what just happened. “So,” Tamaki starts. “Bakugou?”
Eijirou rubs the back of his head with a smile. “Haha, we’re just friends.”
The two of them are walking down a central street. The past couple of days have been pretty quiet, so they’re not really in a rush to be anywhere. There’s enough people on the street that they’re stopped every so often for a selfie, but not too many people that Eijirou’s scared they’re gonna be overheard.
Takami sends him a skeptical look. “‘Just friends’?” he asks, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers. “I didn’t know friends kissed each other.”
“W-well, it’s not like a kiss-kiss! It’s just, like, a ‘Good luck! Stay out of danger!’ kiss!” Eijirou’s argument sounds weak, even to himself.
Tamaki says, “Sure, I believe you. And I’m not going to judge who you like. Just… be careful, yeah?”
“Aww, Tamaki-senpai! You really do care about me!” Eijirou cries, throwing his arm around Tamaki’s shoulders and pulling him in close.
They keep walking like that for a while, until they pass by an alley and hear a cat crying. And, between the two of them, there was never any possibility of them not going to see why the cat was crying.
Of course, there’s no cat. Instead, there’s a villain with a sound replica quirk or something. Eijirou’s too busy trying to catch the guy to focus on his quirk--after all, he’s not Midoriya, that loveable freak of nature.
Sometime during the fight, Tamaki almost gets a tire iron to the back when he’s not looking, so of course Eijirou takes the hit. He’s out for the rest of the scrap, and when he comes to, he’s staring up at the sky.
This feels oddly familiar, Eijirou thinks.
Then, Bakugou’s face appears in his field of vision.
Woah. Major déjà vu.
Groaning, Eijirou slowly sits up. His head hurts and his elbow aches, but he definitely doesn’t feel like he’s impaled, which means this isn’t exactly like what happened a month ago.
“Hey, Katsuki,” he greets. Bakugou just grimaces.
He makes to get up but Bakugou forces him back down. “You fucking idiot ,” he seethes.
Uh oh.
“I’m sorry?” Eijirou offers with a hesitant smile. Bakugou seems to get even angrier.
“I told you not to do that ever again , and what do you do?!” Bakugou runs his hands through his hair. “Eijirou, I can’t-I can’t keep doing this!”
Eijirou hums in confusion, finally standing up.
“ THIS! I can’t pretend I’m okay with you running around, getting hurt for people who can handle themselves just fine! You don’t understand how--” Eijirou reaches out for Bakugou, but he swats his arms away,” --how terrifying it was, to see you go down again. I ran all the way from the agency just to get to you. Miruko didn’t give me approval. I’m probably gonna be fired, and it’s going to be all your fault because you can’t go one second without getting recklessly injured--”
“Hey! No, come on! I’m not hurt!” Eijirou gives a reassuring grin and opens his arms wide. “See? My head hurts a little, but I’m still the same old Eiji!”
Bakugou stares at him, obviously checking to see if there’s any truth in what he’s saying. When he finishes his check-up, he pouts this tiny little thing and throws himself into Eijirou’s arms.
They stand there for a minute, just breathing each other in.
Eijirou smirks and tightens his grip. “And anyways, Kats, you know I only take the life threatening hits for you,” he teases.
Bakugou stiffens and leans back. He stares at Eijirou incredulously for a moment before grabbing Eijirou’s muzzle and pulling him in until their lips are pressed together.
For a second, Eijirou doesn’t know what to do.
And then his brain (and his heart) kicks into overdrive.
He moves one of his hands from Bakugou’s waist up to the back of Bakugou’s head. Bakugou kisses just like he fights: aggressive and explosive and blinding , but that’s not really how a first kiss should go. So Eijirou soothes the kiss, slows things down a little, until they’re sort of just panting into each other’s mouths.
“Hi,” Eijirou says.
Bakugou snorts. “Hey.”
Eijirou goes in for another kiss, but Bakugou pulls away from his grasp with an appreciative pat to Eijirou’s chest. “Not now, lover boy. We have to get back to the agency.”
“But Bakugou!” Eijirou knows he’s pouting like a little kid, but he doesn’t really care. “Can’t they wait for, like, five more minutes?”
Bakugou laughs. Like, really, truly laughs, and Eijirou thinks he’s actually seen God herself. “Do you want me to get fired?”
“Well, no, but I also want more kisses from my super hot boyfriend,” Eijirou complains.
“Oh, so we’re boyfriends now, huh?”
Eijirou blushes. “A-are we not?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions, dumbass. Of course we are.”
Eijirou smiles and grabs Bakugou’s hand.
::
They walk back to the agency together, holding hands the entire time. They pass Tamaki on the way, but he’s on the phone and saying in a hushed tone, “I know, baby, I’ll be home soon,” so Eijirou decides not to bug him.
Bakugou (no, Katsuki, now) gets practically attacked by Miruko when they get in, but when she sees their interlocked hands her eyebrows raise. “Ah, you went to go save your little boyfriend?” She asks. Eijirou flushes as bright as his hair.
“He didn’t need saving, bitch. He’s perfectly fine on his own,” Katsuki spits. Eijirou’s pretty fluent in Katsuki-speak, so he knows that what Miruko means is “Is Eijirou okay?” and what Bakugou means is “Yeah, thank you for your concern.”
Mina throws her arms around him as soon as she sees him, but she doesn’t notice that one of his hands is a little preoccupied. Katsuki just shrugs and lets go so Eijirou can pat her back.
They get the go-ahead to go back home after Eijirou checks in with Fat Gum, so they change (read: Mina changes; Bakugou jumps Eijirou as soon as they’re alone in the locker room and they get walked in on by the second year intern Mina likes, which is just as embarrassing as it sounds) and are on the train by 9 o’clock.
Mina chats with one of the girls in their class the entire ride back. Katsuki, on the other hand…
Well, he falls asleep as soon as they sit down.
It’s cute, really, how Katsuki nods off, shakes himself awake, and then drifts off as soon as he woke up. Eijirou guides his head into the crook of his neck and Katsuki makes a soft noise and grabs at Eijirou’s hand.
Mina snorts and takes a picture of them, most likely about to send it to the “💥🔥BAKUSQUAD 🔥💥 ” group chat they have.
Eijirou makes it his phone wallpaper as soon as he receives the image.
::
They make it home in great time. Eijirou hates to wake Katsuki up, but it’s worth it when he gets to see the dazed look he loves so much.
Katsuki absolutely refuses to let go of Eijirou’s arm, and who is Eijirou to cause Katsuki any pain, right?
They’re taking off their shoes in the front room when Kaminari stumbles out of the common room. “Hey, Kacchan! Enjoy your little nap?” he cackles.
Katsuki huffs. “As a matter of fact, I did .”
“I’m sure Kiri loved having you drool all over him,” Kaminari continues, pretending Katsuki didn’t respond. Eijirou just helps Katsuki out of his coat. “Were you dreaming about the two of you finally kissing? Or, maybe more?” He winks suggestively.
Eijirou chuckles.
“Hah?!” Bakugou snorts. “Why would I have to dream about that when I can do it in real life?”
Mina and Kaminari freeze.
“Yeah, Kami. Unlike some people, when we want something, we go out and get it,” Eijirou says with a pointed look at Mina.
A hand at his jaw forces Eijirou to turn towards Katsuki. They kiss chastely, aware that they have an audience.
“Now, then, if you’ve had your fill of clown behavior, I’d suggest picking your jaws off of the floor and going to sleep, ‘cause we’re going to sleep,” Katsuki purrs.
Eijirou follows him to the elevator, sending a shit-eating grin over his shoulder at where Mina and Kaminari are still standing around in shock.
::
So, yeah.
By the end of the school year, everyone in their class has been in at least one relationship. (Once again, not including Mineta. Because why would you ever include Mineta.)
The jokes still continue, but now they’re less about making fun of Eijirou and Katsuki for pining and more about the two of them being the best couple in the class.
(Okay, so maybe they’re not about them being the best couple. But in Eijirou’s eyes, they totally are.)
Much to Katsuki’s chagrin, Eijirou continues to take hits for his friends. True to his words, he doesn’t take any really serious blows unless it’s for Katsuki. This absolutely does not make Katsuki feel better, but Eijirou insists that everything is even because he has the hottest personal nurse.
(He’s talking about Katsuki.)
They’ve been making plans to open up an agency together, but Katsuki says that if Eijirou keeps getting hurt, Eijirou’s not allowed anywhere near Katsuki’s office.
Eijirou knows he’s just messing around, though. After all, they’re still learning to roll with the punches.
(And if Eijirou plans on proposing when they open the agency together...well, nobody needs to know his plans just yet. They’d probably tease him about it until Katsuki knew.)